Apparatus for forming cigar tips



May 2,1939. R. o. F. EBERT APPARATUS FOR FORMING CiG'AR TIPS Filed April 28, 1937 5 Sheets-Sheet l M ATTORNEY.

MayZ, 1939. R. o. F. EBERT APPARATUS FOR FORMING CIGAR TIPS v Filed April 28, 1937 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 MATTORNEY.

May 2, 1939. R. o. F. EBERT APPARATUS FOR FORMING CIGAR TIPS Filed April 28; 1937 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 I I l w. lh' m,

HHHIIIM Patented May 2, 1939 APPARATUS FOR FORMING CIGAR TIPS Rudolf Otto Friedrich Ebert, Dresden,

Universelle nenfabrik J. C. Mueller 8.:

assignor to many Germany, Oigarettenmaschi- C03, Dresden, Ger- Application April 28, 1937, Serial No. 139,477 In Germany July 4, 1936 l 9 Claims.

This invention relates to an apparatus for covering cigar tips, and is an improvement over the device shown in the pending application Serial Number 85,138, filed June '13, 1936.

The invention has for its object to provide means to efficiently and quickly form the tips of cigars which have been provided with the covering tobacco, and these means operate to enclose the tips, yet prevent the tips. or the tobacco or adhesive thereof from adhering to the means used to form the tips. This is carried out by axially moving the respective parts in respect to each other.

In those cases where the tip adheres to a part of the mechanism, the tearing of the end of the cigar results, and it is one of the objects of this invention to prevent this. This invention contemplates means whereby the tip cap is removed and displaced from the tip end of the cigar so as to enable the drying of the adhesive to take place without the cigar adhering to the tip cap. By this means, even though the end of the cigar remains for a considerable time in contact with the tip cap, no adhesion results, as the removal of the tip cap allows for aeration or drying of the cigar tip before the return of the tip cap.

It is preferable to arrange the tip caps upon a common carrier which is axially displaceable to the cigar holder. If the cigars are arranged upon a drum, it is practical to provide a disc for holding the tip caps, this disc being non-rotatable upon the axis of the drum, but axially movable in respect thereto. It is also preferable to make the contact of the tip caps with the ends of the cigars in as even a manner as possible, and for this purpose the tip caps are resiliently supported by springs. V

It is also preferable to connect the cigar holding drum shaft, which is axially displaceable but non-rotatable with the cigar holder drum, with the driving wheel which is fixedly journaled, while the tip cap holder is secured upon the shaft, means being provided on the shaft to bring about a to and fro displacement of the shaft inv such a manner that the tip caps during each switching step thereof, are moved upon the tips of the cigars and again removed therefrom. A specially secure form of governing is obtained when the governing means for the to and fro displacement of the drum shaft consists of a head fixed to the drum shaft, which head has an annular recess engaged by a governing lever, which lever is connected with an operating cam.

The invention will be described as embodied in one embodiment, and so shown in the drawings and finally pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal cross-section of an embodiment of my invention;

Figure 2 is a side View thereof; and

Figure 3 is a plan view thereof.

Similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout the various views.

Referring to the drawings, and more particularly to Figure l, the cigar holding drum I supports cigars C which are placed on the drum by the suction member 40, and removed therefrom by the suction member 52 shown inFigure 2. Laterally of the cigars disposed upon the drum I is a disc 2| having spring yielding cigar tip caps 24. The disc 2! with its tip caps 24 and the cigars held on the drum are axially displaceable to each other, in a manner that after each step by step rotation of the drum to receive a new cigar, the cigar caps Zlwclose upon the tips of the cigars during their period of rest, and press against them so as to cause the adhesive to bind the tobacco, but are separated from the cigar ends before the adhesive can dry to the tip caps. Thus, with each period of rest of the drum, the cigar tips are acted upon, the intervening period of movement of the drum permitting the aerating or drying of the cigar tips, and at the same time the drying of any adhesive which may have contacted with the inner cup shaped portions of the tip caps.

To carry out these operations, the drum I is provided circumferentially with prismatic recesses 2, each one of which has a holding cheek 3. These cheeks 3 are shaped to conform to the contour of the cigar, and are fastened to shafts 4 on the drum, and are arranged Within the circumferential recess 5 of the drum l. Upon the one end of the shafts 4 cam followers or fingers 6 are secured which cooperate with a fixed cam curve. Upon the other end of the shafts l arms 8 are secured, with each of which one end of a tension spring 9 is connected, the other ends of the springs 9 are secured to the studs l6 fixed to the drum. The springs 9 exert through the shafts 4 the tendency to place the fingers 6 against the stop pins H, as shown in Figure 2.

The drum l is seated upon the driving shaft l2, as shown in Figure 1, and is provided with an annular recess l3 into which a shoulder Ma of a .sleeve 14 is seated. The shoulder i 3 is held to the drum I by a ring [5, which is secured by means of screws 16 to the drum. The sleeve l4 serves as a bearing for the shaft l2, and is secured by a screw |8 to the standard H. A key I9 is on the shaft l2, which key I9 enters into an axial recess in the drum. In this manner, the drum is axially displaceable upon the shaft, but is not rotatable in respect thereto. The curved cam I rests upon the sleeve M, and is secured thereto by a screw 20.

The disc 2| is secured to shaft l2, and has circular openings |2a therein arranged circumferentially, in alignment with the cigar holders of the drum In these openings |2a., sleeves 22 are arranged in which the shafts 23 of the tip caps 24 are journaled so as to permit a to and fro movement of the caps 24. Springs 25 are disposed .3 between the caps 24 and the interior bottom of the sleeves 22, and end guides 26 are provided on the sleeves.

The shaft I2 is driven by the shaft 27, disposed at right angles thereto. A worm 28 is secured to the shaft 21, which worm meshes with a worm gear 29 with which the shaft I2 is connected in a non-rotatable manner, but the shaft I2 is permitted to move axially. For this purpose, the shaft |2 has a key 3|! which engages an axial recess sleeve 3| of the gear 29. The gear 29 is provided with a recess 32a in which a shoulder 32 of a bearing sleeve 33 engages. The shoulder 32 is held by a ring 34 secured to the gear 29 by the screw 35. The sleeve 33 is secured to the sleeve 36 by screw 31, the sleeve 36 forming part of the casing 38 and acting as a bearing member. Within the casing 38 is suction tube 39 which has a mouth piece 40, as shown in Figure 1, which is rotatable in the tube 39 so as to permit the mouth piece or suction head 40 to move in order to take cigars from a certain supply place and move them to the drum. The means 40a for moving the suction head are well-known, and as they form no part of this invention to be claimed, are not further described.

Upon the free end of the shaft l2, the head 4| is secured, which is provided with an annular circumferential recess 42. This recess 42 is engaged by bolts 43, which are supported by a forked end 44 of a two-armed lever 45 shown in Figure 2. This lever 45 is secured to a sleeve 45a movable upon a shaft 46 supported on the frame of the machine. To this sleeve 45a is also secured the other lever 53 of the two-armed lever 45, which lever 53 is provided with a roller 41 which is actuated by a curved cam 48 which in turn is seated upon the shaft 49, which is rotated by means of the gear 50 and worm upon the shaft 21.

Finally, a lever 52 having a suction head 55 at one end, and pivoted at 56 to the machine frame, is moved from its full line position shown in Figure 2 to its dotted line position, where it discharges the cigar upon a platform 51.

" The operation of the machine is as follows:

When drum I has arrived at a position as shown in Figure 2 to expose an open or free prismatic cigar holding portion in a position uppermost of the drum and directly below the suction head 40 holding a cigar, as shown in Figure 1, the

suction is throttled and the cigar C drops into place. The drum then rotates and the cigar reaches the position X, where it is held by the finger 3 as shown. The finger 3 places itself on the outer portion of the cigar and holds it in position in the prismatic recess 2 due to the action of the spring. It will be noted that all cigars are held in position save two, and here the fingers 3 are displaced from thecigars by the action of the cam l on the fingers 6, one finger 6 being just about to be released from the cam, while the other finger must first ride upon the cam surface 1a before it reaches the releasable position. The finger 3 must be out of the way of the incoming cigar, and a like finger 3 must be out of the way when the cigar is removed by the suction head 55. Thus, two fingers 3 are both acted upon by the cam 1 during the rotation of the drum, the cam 'i being fixed at all times by the screw 20 fastened to the non-rotatable sleeve l4 which is secured by screw l8. The shaft I2 is rotatable by the gear 29 and worm 28 on shaft 21. The drum I is rotated by the shaft l2, but is not rotatable in respect thereto. Likewise, the disc 2|.

The shaft I2 is, however, axially displaceable in respect to the drum and in respect to the gear 29, but not in respect to the disc 2|. When the shaft i2 is moved, it moves with it the disc 2|, since the disc 2| is secured to the shaft |2 by the screw 2|a. The shaft I2 is axially displaced by the cam 48 acting on the roller 41, actuating the lever 53 in respect to the shaft 45, which in turn actuates lever 45, which causes the pins 43 in the recess 42 of the head 4| to move the head 4| from its position shown in Figure l to a position outwardly of the standard ll. By this displacement of the shaft l2, the disc 2| is moved towards the drum and the tip caps 24 take the dotted line position shown in Figure 1, and thereby cup the cigar tips. It will have been noted that the finger 6 immediately below the uppermost recess 2 is just about to leave the cam surface ia. Almost simultaneously with the final positioning of the dropped cigar in the uppermost recess 2, the finger 6 leaves the sam surface la, and due to the action of the spring 9, the cheek finger 3 engages and holds the cigar in the recess 2. The first step of the drum brings this cigar to the position X. This step action takes place until the cigar reaches the position of Y in Figure 2, when, from the position Y to the position Z, the cam 1 begins to act to remove the finger 3, to enable the cigar to be removed by the suction head 55. The cam 1 holds the cheek finger 3 open from the position Z to the time when the empty recess is uppermost and until it is filled by a cigar, as just described. While this filling and emptying of the cigars takes place, as shown in Figure 2, the disc 2| is out of the way, as shown in Figure 1. But when the recesses are full of cigars, and during the time when the drum l rotates to move the cigar from position X to position Y, during each period of rotation of the drum l, and while the drum is rotating, the tip caps 24 press against the cigar tips in a yielding or resilient manner due to the action of the springs 25 upon the tip caps 24. Just when the drum permits the removal of the cigar at Z, and the supply of that recess with a new cigar as when the recess reaches its uppermost position as shown in Figure 1, the disc 2| is displaced away from the drum and the ends of the cigars are free and exposed to the air, and the tip caps 24 are free of the cigars. Thus, there is an intermittent pressing of the cigar tips, and a release thereof. As these actions are quite rapid, they can be carried out while the drum is under continuous rotation which is relatively slow, during which time the disc 2| reciprocates. The step by step has a small advantage in that at the period of rest a new cigar can be inserted though this can as readily be done with a continuously rotating member.

The timing of the suction head 40 and the suction head 55 on the suction head lever 52 pivoted at 56, is such that the supply and discharge of the cigars take place.

It will, therefore, be seen that by the arrangement of parts around a central shaft, not relatively rotatable but axially displaceable, the drum rotates and the reciprocating tip caps act intermittently upon the ends of the tips of the cigars at spaced time intervals. This enables the tobacco forming the tips of the cigars to adhere to the body of the cigars on the one hand, and prevents the tobacco of the tips of the cigars from adhering to the inner parts of the cups of the tip caps and then upon the removal of the tip caps destroying the cigars. Such intermittent removal of the pressing tip caps gives the adhesive a better chance to dry in the presence of air, enabling the volatile parts of the adhesive to escape to the atmosphere and, in consequence, improve the character of the cigar.

While I have illustrated and described the preferred form of construction for carrying my invention into effect, this is capable of variation and modification without departing from the spirit of the invention. I, therefore, do not wish to be limited to the precise details of construction set forth, but desire to avail myself. of such variations, modifications and adaptations as come within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An apparatus for heading cigars, comprising a rotatable drum having recesses for the reception of cigars, and a reciprocating disc having a plurality of tip caps adapted to press against the tips of the cigars on the drum.

2. An apparatus for heading cigars, comprising a rotatable drum having recesses for the reception of cigars, a reciprocating disc having a plurality of tip caps adapted to press against the tips of the cigars on the drum, a shaft for rotating the drum and disc, means for axially displacing the shaft without axially displacing the drum, for moving the disc towards and from the drum, and spring resilient tip caps supported on said disc.

3. An apparatus for heading cigars, comprising a drum, a shaft for the drum for rotating the. same and non-rotatable in respect thereto and axially movable in respect thereto, means for rotating the shaft, a cigar tip carrier on said shaft and rotatable and axially movable therewith, and means for axially moving said shaft.

4. An apparatus for headingcigars, comprising a drum, a shaft for the drum for rotating the same and non-rotatable in respect thereto and axially movable in respect thereto, means for rotating the shaft, a cigar tip carrier on said shaft and rotatable and axially movable therewith, means for axially moving said shaft, said means including a head secured to said shaft, a two part lever having one end engaging said head and having the other end adapted. to be moved, and a cam for moving the last named end of the lever, whereby the head being axially movable moves the shaft axially.

5. An apparatus for heading cigars, comprising a centrally disposed shaft, means for ro-- tating the shaft, means for axially moving the shaft, a drum on said shaft rotatable therewith but not axially movable thereby, a plurality of means for holding cigars on said drums, means for supplying cigars to the drum, means for removing cigars from said drum, cam means for holding cigars on the drum and releasing cigars from the drum, means for pressing the tips of the cigars while on the drum during the rotation of the drum, means for removing said last named means from the cigars during the time when the cigars are being supplied and removed from the drum, the means for pressing the tips of the cigars acting intermittently upon the cigars, and drive means for actuating the reciprocatory pressing means and for rotating the drum.

6. In an apparatus for heading cigars, a support for cigar tip caps, said support having a plurality of openings therein, and a plurality of reciprocatory and spring pressed cigar tip caps movable in the openings.

7. In an apparatus for heading cigars, a support for cigar tip caps having a plurality of openings therein, a plurality of reciprocatory and spring pressed cigar tip caps movable in the openings, and means for reciprocating the support to and fro in respect toa plurality of fixedly held cigars.

8. In an apparatus for heading cigars, the combination of a cigar supporting rotating drum, a plurality of cigar tip caps rotating with the drum and adapted to engage the cigar tips, and means for moving the tip caps towards and from the drum.

9. In an apparatus for heading cigars, the combination of a cigar supporting rotating drum, a plurality of cigar tip caps rotating with the drum and adapted to engage the cigar tips, and means for moving the tip caps towards and from the drum, said tip caps being spring pressed, and said tip caps releasing their engagement with the cigar tips at timed intervals.

RUDOLF OTTO FRIEDRICH EBERT. 

